When I enter the room for this debate about digital security and the future of hacktivism, I almost expect to see someone with an Anonymous mask sitting in the audience.

There is no-one, but Misha Glenny, one of the three high-profile speakers of this event echos my thought: he tool suspects that someone from Anonymous might be in the audience. But unlike me, Misha knows that he or she would not show. Of course.

Anonymous protesters

It seems, I have understood little about Anonymous and the world of hacktivism. Thankfully for me (and many of the other guests, who – a majority white haired – don’t look any more knowledgeable than I am), Tim Jordan, Senior Lecturer on Digital Culture and Society at King’s College London, explains to us the basics of hacktivism in a short and precise overview.

He stresses that in contrast to cybercrime, cyberwar or cyberterrorism, with whatever doubtful motives, hacktivism is a politicised form of action trying to evoke a mass protest.

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